On 9 April, the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (“BIS“) under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 released details regarding Standard and Open Individual Export Licences (“SIELs” and “OIELs” respectively) approved for Russia since 30 September 2012.
The information shows that a total of 281 such licences in the period 30 September 2012 – April 2 2014 were granted. More than 90% of all licences were SIELs and their total goods value amounts to approx. £158m.
The records show that 85 licences are military licences and the remaining dual-use licences covered sensors and lasers (63), telecommunications and “information security” (35), nuclear items (1), and other categories. The most common end uses cited were those of armed forces activity, marine corps activity, infrastructure developments, industrial purposes and improving commercial technology, such as improving navigation, digital and software capabilities. The vast majority of end users were commercial, but the academic (12%), private (11%) and government sectors (5%) also featured.
The last licence was granted on 5 March 2014, but there is no official statement relating this to the recent crisis in Ukraine.
The BIS release summary can be found here, and the comprehensive data spread sheet can be found here.
